1. Field of the Invention
The apparatus of the present invention relates generally to circular shields removable mountable on wheel rims for protecting the wheel rims while tires mounted on the rims are being chemically treated or cleaned, and, more specifically, to a shield with a spray bottle in rotating disposition about the shield circumference through which cleaner is uniformly disbursed on the tire mounted on the rim.
2. Prior Art
Over spray from chemicals employed to clean and protect a tire sidewall can damage, dull or smear the rim on which the tire is mounted. Commonly, tires are mounted on fanciful rims, and their appearance is a concern to the owner. To avoid contact of the chemical with the rim, the chemical can be applied to the tire sidewall with a cloth but the more common and convenient application is to spray the chemical from its compressed container in which it is purchased. Users then seek to cover the rim while the chemical is sprayed.
There are several removable rim covers useful for this purpose. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,435,630 by Tucker discloses a protective cover that includes a body with a cylindrical side wall having a flexible lip that engages a flange on the wheel rim. U.S. Pat. No. 4,784,440 by Fair discloses a cover body also with a cylindrical side wall with a retainer depending axially from the side wall and inwardly to engage the rim flange. U.S. Pat. No. 4,874,206 by Sampson discloses a substantially flat cover with break-off rings that adapt the cover to different rim diameters with a rim-engaging apparatus on each ring.
Characteristically, after a wheel cover is removably mounted over the wheel, a user will direct a nozzle of a bottle of compressed chemical toward the tire and spray the chemical on the tire sidewall. Applying the chemical uniformly requires the user to move the bottle around the tire sidewall. To minimize chemical over spray from smearing the vehicle body paint, the bottle must be maintained a certain distance from the tire, not so close as to cause the chemical to drip and not cover the full sidewall and not so far as to permit spray from drifting onto the body paint, in both cases wasting the treating chemical and causing adverse results to the automobile. It is therefore desirable to have a chemical-disbursing bottle constrained the preferred distance from the tire while rotatable around the tire sidewall.